Knife Pleat

Amazing menu for a Valentine’s day Thank you Tony and Yasmine for very nice evening

Very disappointing. We had to send dishes back and it was extremely over priced.

Knife Pleat is an exceptional dining experience. The quality of food is magnificent. The atmosphere calm and the chef Tony and his beautiful wife Yasmin make you feel like a valued guest.

This restaurant is just beautiful ... felt like I was in NYC! The food & cocktails were all excellent, & the service was friendly. My complaints are that there was a looooong wait to get our cocktails, & the same to get the entrees. Also, it’s crazy expensive for a restaurant in a mall!

Service could be worked on. Attention to custom needs were lacking. We ordered the same martini’s at the same time and one perfect the other was not. I will still return for the excellent food.

It was wonderful food & perfect day for sitting on the patio.

Chef Tony and Yassmin have created an outstanding restaurant. The dishes for both lunch and dinner are excellent. The servers are attentive and friendly. Knife Pleat is a great addition to the Orange County dining scene.

Knife Pleat has a casual elegance that is not to be missed. Outstanding service, delicious food and still unpretentious. The lobster salad was quite large, filled with hunks of luscious chunks. The three course offering was also a wonderful option. Don't skip the bread, if only for the butter. Dessert is a must! Can't wait to return!

Elegant French restaurant in South Coast Plaza, very attentive service and great food. I like the variation of dishes with a changing menu next to the a la carte items. From the Chinese New Year menu I had the duck dumplings, which were very flavorful, and the pineapple tart, which was excellent. My favorite dish here still is the duck cassoulet, at least for the “ winter” .

This is a great place for gathering. Great value for lunch pre-fix!! Quality food and service.

Enjoyed a late, leisurely lunch with a friend. The cuisine was inspired --delicious and beautiful visuals. We started with an amazing brie "Napoleon" that had layers of black truffles and was served with toasted baguette. It was recommended by the chef and very unique. The lobster Caesar salad with avocado was one of the best entree salads I've had in a long time. Generous portion. My guest has the steak tartare and enjoyed it. The French pastry chef here is a talent--we shared a pineapple tart with almond cream and a touch of orange that was perfection. If you're looking for a refined lunch experience in a lovely ambiance, Knife Pleat is a find. Sure to impress.

Thank you for adding some additions! The ambiance at Knife Pleat is unmatched! And don’t forget to see the gorgeous restroom!

Food and service were good but it is quite expensive for lunch ($140 for 2 not including tips). Moreover we were charged with another 3% for back of house service. I never heard of this charge even at 5 star hotel or great restaurant.

Excellent meal and great service. Fine dining and with great presentation and creative dishes. Excellent wine too!

This was my second visit to Knife Pleat, and it was just as delicious and memorable as the first. I ordered the Chef's Tasting menu, which showcases the high culinary skill of Chef Tony Esnault and his kitchen team. Each item of the seasonal menu was layered with flavors, building upon each other as the meal progressed. The wine pairing was a perfect accompaniment to the meal and included selections from regions throughout France. Service was friendly, knowledgable and very attentive. Clearly, Knife Pleat is focused on excellence in fine dining and is already one of the best restaurants in Orange County. I highly recommend this local gem, and am already looking forward to my next visit.

I would recommend to go back for a dessert and drink. I started with the truffle brie - this was delicious. Beautiful flavor. I also had the steak tartare and escargot ravioli. Both were good but not very memorable dishes. The dessert however, a seasonal citrus dish, was mind blowing. The service is on-point.

The Chinese New Year special items (five spice duck dumpling and pineapple sesame tart) are out of this world.....so creative and delicious. They will offer these two special items until Feb 9....

Great meal. Best of OC.

Exquisite food! Lovely, attentive service. Dining on the patio is delightful. We expected an excellent experience, but Knife Pleat exceeded all expectations. Thank you!

Fabulous
The food is probably the best in Orange County.

We had the tasting menu with wine pairing for 2 plus a cocktail each before foods comes out. The wine was not well selected to go with each dishes. Only one wine that went well with the dish on the tasting menu was the one pair with the duck. The cocktails was good.
Food wise our Risotto, the rice was uncook and hard. Worse dish was scallops, extra salty and uneven marinated. I don’t want to be too negative on all the foods served on the tasting menu. Our favorite was the pear (Desserts). Sadly,
The tasting menu only dessert tasted good. Ice cream was good, good texture, the moose was fluffy, the pear itself was just right.
They have the right concept but needs to work on executing it. We paid over 450+plus tips, and +3% back of service, the least we expect is foods to be decent.
We did mentioned our dinner experienced to our waiter and manager, their responded was “Tasting menu is a rotation menu and they still working on it.” Well then we definitely don’t want to come back and pay another $500 to be serve on something they still work on. Maybe swing by for a cocktail while shopping in the mall.

Michael our runner was so helpful in our selections. He provided great service while our server was busy.

Fantastic dining experience! Looking forward to returning soon.

Eagerly anticipated, this restaurant has highs and lows. The highs: desserts are flavorful, light and well thought out. Service staff are well trained , knowledgeable and responsive. Wine list has multiple price points and variety... though the Sancerre on the menu (@$60.00) was merely adequate.

The lows: 1)this is a very noisy restaurant. Despite adding carpet and drapes , the noise level borders on intolerable. Adding to this, On the night we dined there was a raucous group of ten hovering at the bar awaiting their table, and even when seated continued to act as if they were in a sports bar or pizza parlor. Staff attempted to mitigate, with little success and diners were moving to other tables or leaving early.
2)It’s difficult to see the value presented on the offered menu. Tasting menu (2 people) w/one bottle of wine +gratiuity hovered at over $450.00. Food was generally well prepared, but there are other world class restaurants at this price point in LA,NY, London, Paris where you feel you’ve had a memorable dining experience and gotten your money’s worth—-not here.It’s the OC for goodness sake!. With all the hype associated with the opening of this restaurant and the pedigree/experience of the chef this was a disappointing experience. You anticipate stellar plating. This was not in evidence other than in the desserts. There are other terrific restaurants in the OC with better value and high quality. Maybe the tasting menu not the best choice here...but even the entrees are overpriced. Maybe it’s the rent at south coast plaza.
3) the kitchen seemed overwhelmed as our meal stretched to over 2 1/2 hours. Perhaps each course was prepared ‘a la minute’ for each order ( a good thing) but it seemed too long btw courses
4)there’s a charge for bread and a3% add-on for the ‘back of house’ gratuity-though I think that might be optional. At these prices it’s a bit of a money grab.

Lunch might prove more affordable —but I fit one am not tempted to return.

Service was non-existent. $60 sole was old and cold. Duck was room temperature. All interaction was with busboy, who was great and helped find the missing waiter.
An extremely bad experience for our Anniversary dinner.
This is a “one and done” restaurant. It is not fine dining as it’s prices reflect. We were not the only customers who could not deal with unusual delay in getting service and food, so we left without finishing. We did however pay the $270 bill and went somewhere else for dessert.
Proceed at your own risk. Running out of scallops at 7pm is a bad sign.

I have never written a negative review of a restaurant.
The menu was limited. It is the same as listed on the website. The halibut listed was not halibut rather Eastern Cod. The fish was properly cooked, however the sauce (jus de cuisson) was this thin watery substance with speckles of some seasoning maybe this was small fish eggs. The appearance was not appetizing. The Maine sea scallops were sold out.
We were a party of four. Two of us requested the “tasting menu”, our server informed us that all four must order the tasting menu, otherwise it was not possible. Next, the General Manager, Travis Francis appeared at our table to confirm the policy. So, if we had been two parties of two, two of us could have ordered the “‘tasting menu” but since four of us were seated together it was not be allowed. Mr. Francis explained that on occasions when the restaurant was not busy, it was possible for exceptions to occur.
Being told no is not the pathway for success in the hospitality business. We truly had high hopes for this place as we had dined on several occasions at one of their previous restaurants, Church & State.

Really great food, had duck for lunch which was shredded and the fried on one side with slightly spicy bean sauce, carrot ginger soup was super, octopus was yummy with oily beans and the SeaBreem also really good, great service, ate on outdoor patio, very peaceful out there. Only weak dish was the espresso eclairs I would pass on that dessert

Best restaurant in Orange County at the moment. Delicious food, gracious service, just perfect.

Great new addition to the OC culinary scene. A complete redo of the Marche Moderne prior space in South Coast Plaza. Food is cutting edge and they had Périgord truffles! Very good wine list, limited bar, and fun desserts!

Lunch is the best deal around here in the mall. Well executed set menu.

This was our second time eating at Knife Pleat. We were very impressed by the food and service both times we ate there. The server was knowledgeable about the wines by the glass and was able to accurately describe them and steer us to the one which would work for us. The presentations were beautiful.

We knew the dress code for this restaurant was casual, but were really surprised to find diners in T-Shirts and Cargo shorts! I assume they may have been shopping in the mall and went to this restaurant for dinner without it being their destination. Fine with me ~ attire of the customers does not have an impact on my dining experience. I mention this only to let future diners know that you do not have to dress "cocktail casual to dine here. Ashley provided friendly and non-intrusive service. We selected the tasting menu with wine parings ~ our Sommelier was Amazing ( so sorry I can't remember his name)~ he was exuberant and made us feel he really enjoyed waiting on us ! Some of the wine selections were really unusual and not something I would order but were excellent pairings,especially the Cotes Du Jura with the Mushroom Risotto! This was one of the best Risottos we have ever had. The Scallop Crudo was exceptional ~ Halibut was good, albeit rather salty, perhaps due to the caviar . Duck leg confi superb, but the breast was not remarkable. Dessert Poached pear was very good, an absolutely beautiful presentation and delightful way to end the evening. My only disappointment was that we were not served an amuse bouche to begin our dining experience. I am always thrilled to be served one at fine dining establishments especially at those at this price point.

First time here. Excellent meal and great service. Had the price fixed lunch and enjoyed each course. Knife Pleat is definitely a destination restaurant but also good for a casual lunch while shopping.

Beautiful room. Excellent, attentive service. Only complaint was tea wasn’t hot enough. Other than that, wonderful experience.

Unpleasant noise level for a small-sized restaurant. Staff is not trained well. Food was ok. Dessert was good.

The restaurant is relatively new in Orange County & the lunch service is only a few weeks old. However the owners are very experienced, high-end, restauranteurs. The food was uniformly excellent. However the service was somewhat poor. Clearly the servers need significant training & hands-on coaching - there is a very long way to go in this regard.

The servers were very attentive and explained everything very well. The food was presented well, flavor was good, but not outstanding. The Boar pasta tasted like short ribs. Paying $2 per piece of bread is ridiculous. The food was good, but not worth the price charged.

My wife and i ate at this restaurant for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was well prepared and the service was outstanding. We ordered the lunch prix fixe and found it to be enough food at a reasonable. The cucumber soup was outstanding. I would recommend this restaurant to those who appreciate great food at a nice price.

Stylish French restaurant - certainly currently my preferred restaurant at South Coast Plaza. Very attentive service, despite the restaurant being very busy for lunch. The duck cassoulet was excellent and very suited for the winter season.

Great food that was well presented.